1972 Plymouth GTX - Mr. Cool

Long before the Gulf Coast got a redcoat-style tarring by greedy Englishmen, it was infamous for its miserably steamy climate. As no surprise, Louisiana resident Matt Delaney makes it quite clear that air conditioning is one of the favorite features that his 1972 Plymouth GTX offers. Sure, you can get him to talk about the car's 618hp late-model Hemi and how efficiently it puts the power down exiting hairpins, but the talk always circles back to how comfortably the climate-controlled GTX chills its occupants. Somewhat ironically, whether it's via A/C or an extreme-duty radiator, Matt's spending habits have necessitated rigging up a cooling system directly to his bank account in order to avert spontaneous checkbook combustion. He has $150,000 tied up in the GTX, and he's built close to 50 high-end restomod Mopars over the years, 10 of which were Hemi 'Cudas. Unlike most people who can afford to do so, however, Matt doesn't build them to win trophies or stroke his own ego. A certified mechanical engineer, his goal is to continually push the envelope of ingenuity in an effort to build the perfect street machine. In his latest attempt, Matt has come pretty darn close.

If Matt's fixation on A/C seems peculiar, it's because he's the quintessential perfectionist. Since long before the Pro Touring movement hit full steam, he's been aspiring to build cars that accelerate, brake, and turn like hell while coddling passengers in comfort and retaining excellent street manners. His first car, a '73 Duster that he still owns today, packs a supercharged 500ci Wedge and runs 9.40s at 140-plus miles per hour. Over the years, Matt's tastes have evolved and the Duster proved too one-dimensional in its abilities. He's been bitten hard by the road racing bug, which is what prompted the build of his '72 GTX. "I used to be a drag race guy, but now I'm addicted to road racing," he says. "I tried running road courses with a Hemi 'Cuda, but the heavy motor makes the front end push entering a corner. The biggest problem is that the back end comes out from underneath you as soon as you hit the gas coming out of a corner. The B-Body has a wheelbase that's 6 inches longer than a Challenger, and 8 inches longer than a 'Cuda. I think an E-Body would work better in an autocross, but I figured the B-Body platform would offer better stability on a road course."

The longer wheelbase is just one of the reasons why Matt opted for a GTX. "The B-Body isn't just a stretched version of an E-Body. It is also more aerodynamic, and it has one of the stiffest chassis of any Mopar," he says. "On a 2.5-mile road course, you can easily hit 120 mph on the straights, so good aero is very important. A suspension can't do its job if the chassis is flopping around all over the place. Even though subframe connectors are readily available for most muscle cars, with a unibody car, it's always a good idea to start with the stiffest chassis you can get. Chrysler actually riveted weights under the floor of '72 and later B-Bodies-right in front of the back seat area-to cut down on noise and vibrations, and make the car feel more solid. "

Although his day job as a real estate developer keeps him plenty busy, Matt has built so many cars through the decades that it eventually became cost-effective for him to start up his own shop, Delaney Auto Design. With dozens of completed projects under his belt, he's learned that it sometimes makes much more sense to build clones rather than originals. "With a Pro Touring build like this, you have to ask yourself: 'What parts are you going to keep that's factory original?' If the answer is nothing, then it makes no sense to pay up the yin yang for a rusted-up jalopy just because it's an original 440 car," he says. "A lot of these original cars have been sitting in salvage yards for years, and have had tons of stuff stolen off of them. That's why I chose to buy a Satellite to turn into a GTX."

Being a well-educated Mopar man, Matt knew that the Sebring Plus was the ideal candidate for his project. Matt says the Sebring Plus was what you got back in the day if you wanted to pull a fast one on the insurance company. They looked just like a GTX, but with a 318 or a 400 instead of a 440. "The one I bought was a 318 car that a kid inherited from his dad, and wanted to sell in order to buy a new Mustang. The paint, bumpers, trim, and interior on this car were all perfect," he says. "The only rust were two dime-sized spots behind the rear wheels. Since most of the 318 cars were equipped with A/C, it meant that I didn't have to track down a dash with A/C vents in order to install an aftermarket system. Trim pieces and things like wiper arms and grilles are incredibly difficult to find on these cars."

Part of what turned Matt's Hemi 'Cuda into a lumbering giant on the road course was the big, heavy elephant motor underhood. To avoid that same mistake this go-around, he installed a lighter, late-model Hemi into the GTX. It started life as a Mopar Performance 392 crate motor, but has been bored to 4.090 inches and fitted with a Callies 4.050-inch forged crank. It sweeps the 10.0:1 Diamond pistons and Eagle steel rods up and down the bore for a total of-surprise, surprise-426 ci. Since driveability is paramount in Matt's street machine builds, he retained the 235/235-at-.050 hydraulic roller cam that came with the 392 crate. The stock heads were ported to flow 330 cfm, and they're fed by an XV Motorsports single-plane intake manifold converted to EFI, and a Holley four-barrel throttle body. A testament to the cylinder heads' outstanding airflow, the motor puts out 618 hp and 585 lb-ft of torque despite a modestly sized camshaft. Bolted behind the new-age Hemi is a Keisler-modified GM 4L60E transmission with paddle shifters, which sends torque to a Chrysler 8 3/4-inch rearend with 3.21:1 gears.

Considering that the GTX was specifically built to do the tango with high-dollar exotics on the road course, the big question is how well it performs in the heat of competition. "The back end stays planted, and it sticks very nicely, but you can still drift it just a hair if you want. This car is a beast on the road course, and I have no problem putting Z06 Corvettes in my rearview mirror," Matt says. Performance-wise, the GTX has come close to achieving his stringent standards, but to Matt, that's not enough. Supreme comfort can't come second to stunning performance, and that means he can't have that Gulf Coast heat and humidity sweating down on his parade. After all, this is a man who loves his A/C, and fortunately, the GTX delivers in every arena. "You couldn't get air conditioning with an old-school Hemi, and A/C wasn't available with factory air grabber hoods, either. I want it all-A/C, an air grabber hood, and power everything-and the Gen III Hemi lets me have it all."